Texas & New York

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14th August - I left San fransisco and flew to San Antonio via Las Vegas, arriving at 1am. Rocky came and picked me up and we went for some food. The first thing that struck me about Texas is just how big it is. It took well over an hour to get to where we were staying. Texas is the 2nd biggest state behind Alaska (i think). Its just massive..
I guess not many tourists come through San Antonia as the accent became a discussion in the diner within an hour of landing. We were staying at one of Rocky's friends dads place. Everyone round there seemed to be very relaxed about security and the hospitalty was second to none. We were staying on what can be best described as a ranch, taking about 5 mintes to drive up the path and over 200 cows just wandering round.
Life in Texas or at least life with Rocky was certainly at a slow pace, perfect !
I had no concrete plans on how long i was going to stay, however a hurricane was expected in the gulf of Mexico, which ruled out spending too long at the coast or going to Mexico. So instead we spend most of the time eating, drinking and visiting friends of Rocky's, who were all really friendly.
On the Saturday night we decided to go to an ATF party (Alcohol, Tabacco & Firearms - you had to bring 1 or all 3 in most cases). This was a proper redneck party with guns everywhere. I even entered the clay pigeon competition. I was called Manchester in the tournament and came 7th out of 25. Not bad as i'd never held a shotgun before. There was plenty of booze and cowboy hats a plenty. Rocky decided to introduce me as the duke of DIdsbury, 17th in line to the thrown....As you'd expect, nobody questioned it. I was even asked if i was landed ? I presume he wanted to know if i had land, obviously i said yes..
Next day Rocky drove us down to the coast (Corpus Cristie) to his mate Jasons place and go fishing. Unfortunately the weather was starting to get Moody so we sat in the garden and drank instead
21st - Rocky dropped me at the Airport around luchtime and by 9pm i was in New York. First impression of New York were good, a place with a vibrant feel and friendly people. I stayed for the first couple of days with a friend from my time in Leicester called Dave and his wife Joyce in Brooklyn. I went to a museum believe it or not and out for a few beers in the evening. On the Thursday i headed over to Manhattan to crash at another Dave's house (Adi's cousin) in Manhatten. I spent the next few days shopping, getting the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and being a tourist.
New York is the kind of place you can go to 10 times and not scratch the surface.
We went out drinking on the Saturday night, of which i remember very little. Next day we went for a typical New York Deli lunch and next thing i know i'm on the plane home.
The last couple of weeks flew by. It's always a strange feeling knowing your coming home after 7 months.

All i can say is that its very difficult to explain what a trip llike that is like with a few paragraphs and a couple of photos.
It was without a shodow of doubt the best decision i've ever made.
A lot of people asked me where was my favourite place. Its actually impossible to answer its as much about the people that you meet along the way and the stuff you get up to as the place itself......
August 26th, 6am - Back Home - Manchester !!!

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